Texas Rangers Blog

As the AL West turns: Big days for Angels, Mariners

Seattle, which lost out to the Rangers last week for free agent Rich Harden, has apparently found a nice consolation prize: 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee.

According to multiple reports, the Mariners, Philadelphia and Toronto have tentatively agreed to a blockbuster trade involving two previous Cy Young winners (Lee and Roy Halladay, who will go to Toronto). The full details of the deal have yet to be revealed, but any number of names have been tossed around including Philadelphia’s J.A. Happ and Joe Blanton. Toronto, I’m assuming is reaping lots of young prospects out of this deal, but since the Mariners have made it clear they want two starters, I wonder if Blanton ultimately ends up there.

And then there are the Angels. It seemed like Los Angeles was about to have a very bad day. The Angels lost John Lackey to Boston, but got DH-OF Hideki Matsui on a one-year deal. According to reports, It makes Juan Rivera potentially expendable and the Angels could dangle him to Atlanta for RHP Derek Lowe.

So the Rangers have added Rich Harden, Chris Ray, Ben Snyder and Clay Rapada. Seattle has picked up Chone Figgins and, apparently, Lee. The Angels have lost Lackey and Figgins, but have added Matsui and I expect they will get a pitcher before it’s all over.

Our take: The AL West has gotten infinitely more interesting over the last week. Not sure if ultimately the Rangers have made up ground on their rivals or not. But it definitely looks like all three are better than they were 10 days ago.